Kara Goldin's no-sugar Hint flavored water

FAMILY

Published 4:00 am, Friday, September 3, 2010

Kara Goldin, a former AOL executive, launched Hint Water in 2005, after growing tired of seeing her children drink sugary juices.

Kara Goldin, a former AOL executive, launched Hint Water in 2005, after growing tired of seeing her children drink sugary juices.

Photo: Courtesy Of Kara Goldin

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Hint Water was launched in 2005 by a mom in San Francisco who was tired of seeing her children drink sugary juices.

Hint Water was launched in 2005 by a mom in San Francisco who was tired of seeing her children drink sugary juices.

Photo: Courtesy Of Kara Goldin

Kara Goldin's no-sugar Hint flavored water

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It is a multimillion-dollar business started by a mom who began to see her daughter's brightly colored, juice-filled sippy cups as nothing more than insidious sugar-delivery mechanisms.

In late 2004, Kara Goldin put a stop to the juice for her kids - juice from cups, bottles, boxes and pouches - and began experimenting by dropping bits of fresh fruit into glasses of water.

"We had always put lemon or lime in our water, so I started putting different types of fruit in the water, and the kids loved it," said Goldin, a mother of four in San Francisco. "Our kids would have playdates, and I'd put a fresh raspberry in the kids' water and later the moms would call me and say, 'What is this raspberry drink you're giving my child?' "

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Today, Hint - bottled water with a hint of fruit, and not a trace of sugar, calories or preservatives - has retail sales of about $25 million, according to Goldin. The top-selling flavors include watermelon, blackberry, raspberry-lime, strawberry-kiwi, pomegranate-tangerine and mango-grapefruit.

"This whole thing began when my daughter was reaching for some more apple juice," Goldin said. "I was noticing how kids were in the habit of moving from milk in a sippy cup to juice in a sippy cup that they'd have throughout the day. That's a lot more sugar than kids should have."

Goldin added, "I remember having a conversation with another mom and she was saying her 2 1/2-year-old was getting a root canal. I thought, What's wrong with this picture?"

A former executive at AOL who left her job in 2001 to have a family, Goldin says her focus groups consisted of her children's playdates and a small group of friends. "I felt I had some ideas to change the beverage industry and I dragged my husband (a former attorney at Netscape) into it." The Goldins launched Hint with their own savings, and with some help from friends and family. They are preparing for an outside round of funding.

Goldin says the business has been harder and more time consuming than she ever dreamed.

"I went into this industry thinking that it wasn't really owned by Coke and Pepsi, but I've found that's pretty much the case," Goldin said. "The grocers and food chains have Coke or Pepsi contracts that they need to abide by. Coke now owns Vitamin Water, and they have their own water, too. Our biggest challenge is getting more shelf space."

One of the company's earliest breakthroughs was when it got into Whole Foods. More recently, Hint landed in 9,500 Starbucks nationwide. The water is filtered and pasteurized until even the minerals are removed, Goldin said. The flavor is derived from the two to three drops of fruit essence in each 16-ounce bottle.

Hint's competitors, Goldin says, are "anyone vying for shelf space, particularly cold space, which is very limited." (The flavored water can be served cold or at room temperature.)

"What we are doing is truly different because there aren't enough sugars from the fruit to pass into the water," she said.

With revenues increasing year after year, Goldin is now looking at expanding the line into food products.

"I want our brand to represent no sweeteners and no preservatives."

As for how she juggles a growing business and a large family, she said, "You just get up every morning. And, fortunately, my kids are great. They want to know everything about the business."

Laughing, she recalled a recent visit to a Starbucks in Maine, where the family was vacationing.

"My 9-year-old daughter grabbed a bottle of Hint and asked to talk to the manager," said Goldin. "She was so excited to say, 'My mom is the founder of this.' That was pretty great."

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